


Within Darkness, There is Light

by IVMysteryNumbers



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Series, Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-18
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2018-08-23 03:57:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8313124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IVMysteryNumbers/pseuds/IVMysteryNumbers
Summary: This story takes place during post-146.Sixteen year old, Momoya Ichiyami, has a goal in life: to become a duelist who can stand tall in the Pro Circuit. Despite the roadblocks set in her life, she remains determined to pursuing her dream. One day, Momoya finds the Key and the door to antics and danger opens. The mark of a new chapter of her life begins...!





	1. Chapter 1

It was cold. Dank as air bubbles trickled up to break the slow paced waves. The ocean was lifeless-

“It’s dark..”

\- For an instant.

The ocean began to stir and lift the murkiness from below.  
“I can’t move.” A rolling knots below hushed the following words. The rumbling became deafening as the noise drew closer.   
“Am I going to stay like this?”

Silence. Tired eyes fluttered open and saw light gray in front of them.  
“A pillow?” A teenage girl felt her hand up to the grey plush object obscuring her line of vision. She pushed the pillow away from her face and looked up at the ceiling. Her arms and stomach were growing cool from sweat and ceiling fan.  
“Boy, that was scary,” she muttered. “I still have the big chills. I thought I was drowning in my sleep.” Exhaling, the teen slinked out of bed and trudged to the bedroom door. She felt something awkward under the bottom of her toes.   
“Hm-? What’s this?”, she inquired groggily. A slip of paper had been swiped under the door’s tight space. She picked it up…  
Momoya-, it began.  
If you’re planning on doing your ritual morning jog   
before classes, be careful of cars.

“Hrm,” she groaned, reading the note over. “Morning traffic. Must be bad if they’re out in the neighborhood.” Momoya messed with her long bob and mumbled. She surveyed the room whilst still rubbing what remaining bit of sleep she had from her eyes. “Even if it’s before class,” A small olive green box laying on top of the dresser caught her attention. “It probably wouldn’t hurt to have a Duel to clear my head..” Momoya did a quick change of clothes, yawning in the process, and laced up her sneakers. Snapping the box up, she stuffed it into her zip-up hoodie pocket. She reached for her D-Pad and slipped quietly out of her bedroom and out of the house. Looking up at the contemporary features of the abode, Momoya gave a slight wave and jogged off.  
Slowing her pace, the teen’s eyes roamed in search for anybody taking the chance to be outside in the early morning and her mind was elsewhere.   
Her brows were furrowed and the need to push the haunting mental image out of her conscious. Holding her head, Momoya tried to comprehend what it was she was imagining in her dream.   
“It was definitely bigger than a pool,” she shuddered. “Now I’m starting to get the idea how suspended in water fish get without the current carrying them.” Biting her lip and moving heel to toe, Momoya continued to chew apart what little she could. “Well, there’s no way to mince it other than just calling it some weird, stagnant dream. Maybe it was from something I ate?” She made a face. “I don’t think it was the fish I had last night.”  
As she realized what her comment was about, she paled slightly and made a face.  
“Hah, I think I should just go to bed earlier.”

A car began blaring its horn, causing Momoya to practically jump out of her shoes.  
“What the heck-“ she shrieked and looked to and fro. As if by magic or an invisible cloak being lifted, a flood of cars emerged from nowhere, bumper to bumper. “Where did they come from?” Momoya plugged her ears. “It’s still early for the Star Festival. That’s all in early July.” The vehicles sudden appearance brought her to backtrack.  
“Well whatever this is, it will really make me consider a raincheck on the duelist search.”

The clouds stretched and the sun’s rays played with Heartland’s scenery. Momoya shielded her eyes from the harsh morning light that shone strong in her face. Heartland Tower’s tall structure refracted the light and stood proudly in the center of the metropolis, pristine. In the past month, the tower went under heavy construction due to damage sustained during the World Duel Carnival, Momoya recalled. She shuddered.

“It’s really back together. Am I in some sort of sci-fi movie?” Momoya hesitated a bit with her words as she stared at the habitable monument. Wait, that would more than explain the note she received before heading out. Meaning Heartland Tower was having some form of reopening and people wanted to catch a glimpse of whatever event was planned.  
"What am I even talking about? That's probably what it is. I should just get out of this area." Momoya said, shielding her eyes from the sun. "It's kind of dangerous.”

The teen dodged cars to the best of her abilities as they zoomed past, almost having a heart attack in the process. “Never doing that again,” Momoya muttered. The clock that stood at the nearing corner began to chime the seven o’clock. Momoya rested her legs and looked at her surroundings. Lark feathers were scattered around her get and along the sidewalk, moss growing through the cracks.  
“Honestly, it doesn’t seem like any Duelists are out. I don’t blame them if the horns scared them awake.” She rubbed her thumb over her knuckles to relieve an itch and mulled over the variables. “Even so, they would all be in a hurry for school instead of playing outside.”

School… Oh yes, she had almost forgotten. Momoya looked up at the clock. “Damn, I’ll have to take a rain check. Sucks.” The teen began to turn on her heel. But she stopped.   
A boy came power walking down the sloping stone path directly across from her, a bag strap resting on his shoulder. The red necktie associated with the first year junior high students of Heartland Academy was neatly resting around his shirt collar. Momoya furrowed her brows and watched the boy with a blank expression. “Funny.” She couldn’t help but wonder aloud. “I don’t recognize him. Probably a new student.” She watched his warm pink hair vanish down the hill. Regaining her focus as her eyes darted to the clock, she began hiking upwards in the opposite direction.  
“Momoya, you shouldn’t be speculating at a time like this.” Her brows knitted together. “But it’s not really strange to see a new foreigner here.” Her conversation with herself was cut abruptly short. A tiny pain ran down her forehead. “Ouch, what?” A flash of gold color passed her line of vision downward and landed with a thump. Her eyes followed down at her feet and she noticed something twinkling in the grass. Kneeling down, Momoya searched the dew covered grass in search of the culprit. Running her hand along the ground, she felt a metallic object. Her lips formed a thin line as she hoped it wasn’t a nail of some sort that hit her in the head. Momoya swept the grass aside and got a better view of what she felt under her hand. “Oh..” She slowly picked it up and stared at the strange shape. It looked very much like a triangle of sorts with key-like features. The golden rim of the triangle shimmered in the morning sun. 

“What even is this thing..? It kind of looks like one of those keys you wear on your neck. But,” she turned it around. “This sure is the weirdest key I’ve seen.” Momoya began to rise up with the mystery pendant in hand. A faint rolling sound from up above prickled her ears, bringing her to glance up. The sound of a thud was followed by shouting. Momoya’s eyes narrowed as something long and dark came flying towards her face. 

“Wait a second, that’s…!”  
Her vision blurred and there was a loud thwack. A sharp pain caused Momoya’s head to throb and the sound of what spun towards her head clattered onto the stone pathway. There were a couple of high pitched shouts that became garbled before blacking out.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking around! The story's been in overdrive (though life has been a struggle lately). I do hope you enjoy this new revamped chapters!
> 
> \- Mina Watanabe belongs to a friend and tumblr user mina-chan09.

“And with that, you’re all dismissed. Homeroom adjourned.” A middle-aged man with hair slicked back was mumbling to himself as he sorted the gathered papers handed to him. The students began to filter out of the 2-A classroom with revived energetic chatter. “And just because the end of semester exam isn’t until mid-July doesn’t mean you can take it easy.” The man heaved a sigh and finished packing his materials and looked around the classroom. The number of students that remained could be counted on one hand.  
This newfound atmosphere emerged shortly after the World Duel Carnival tournament and the influence of Duel Monsters is starting to wax over the students, he began to think.

The man was about to leave his desk and paused. A lanky boy with medium build and unkempt black and silver hair was rubbing at his cheek as he rose from his seat to sling his school bag over his shoulder. “Oh, Mr. Sakurai.”

The boy looked up and his brown eyes snapped open in attention. “…Yes?”  
“Have you seen your little posse?”  
“Not…all of them.”, he confessed. “I’m honestly not sure what’s happening.”  
Flipping the flimsy pages of the attendance record, the man began to review each student name. “Ms. Peters was the only one who made it here on time, aside from yourself.” A look of suspicion crossed him. “Usually your other friends arrive without fail. I can understand Mr. Yamazaki’s absence being the cause of familial emergency, but the other two…”

“I’ll be sure to let the others know of your disappointment, Mr. Inoue.” Sakurai gave a slight bow of apology. “I’ll direct them to you for the assignments.”

“Right.” With a nod, Mr. Inoue waved a hand. An abrupt pardon followed Sakurai as he lifted his head and departed from the classroom. He walked a steady pace, loosening the tie of his uniform and exhaled.”  
“I said I’d direct them, but,” Sakurai stuffed his hand into the pocket of his slacks. “There weren’t any messages sent during lunch period.”  
The boy felt something bump the back of his head and he stopped at the stairs that led to the foot lockers. He slowly turned his head and the corner of his mouth twitched. A cold sports drink touched his cheek, making him jump slightly in his slipper shoes. “Jeez…!”

“What, not thirsty?” Sakurai’s eyes darted to a black girl standing behind him, holding the neck of the sports drink against him and an opened on in her other hand. “You look in need of hydrating.”  
“Johanna.” He uttered in a flat tone.  
She gave a snarl. “I said to call me Carmon.”  
“Funny, I thought you liked being called Johanna.”  
“I don’t.”  
“Fine, sorry.” Sakurai muttered. “Just give me the drink.”  
“I’m starting to think you don’t need it.” She pulled it back.

“Give it here.” The boy snatched it out of her hand in her attempt to play “keep away” and cracked it open and took a swig. Carmon gritted her teeth as he took a swallow, her lips forming a low rise triangle. “You little…” Sakurai closed the bottle and released a sigh. The girl’s internal fit of frustration subsided and she crossed her arms, tapping her own bottle with her fingers.  
“So, nothing.”  
He watched their classmates slip on their kicks with whoops and hollers. “Nothing since last night.”  
“You don’t think something’s happened to Momo, do you, Hiro?” The strap on Carmon’s bag began sliding down her shoulder.  
“Probably nothing.” Sakurai took another sip, his brows arched as he saw the rush of milky brown zoom past him and down the stairwell. “Hey, where’re you going?”

Carmon pouted and stared up at him. “I’M going to find Momo. You can help me if you want to.” His response was his face expressing dread. 

“Um..”  
The girl whipped her head around and almost smacked someone in the face with her curly ponytail. In front of her was a thin girl with long, mousy brown hair. A scar along her left cheek. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there.” 

The girl shook her head, her bangs bouncing. “It’s okay. Uh..you were saying ‘Momo’. Is that Momoya Ichiyami?”   
Carmon blinked and gathered breath. This was Mina Watanabe, one of their classmates. She sat on Momoya’s left and Sayuki Umashiro on her right. “Yeah. That’s my nickname for her,” she replied.  
Mina twirled a lock of hair and gave a look of concern. “Is she okay?”  
“Her not being present in class got to you, too..”  
“I’m,” Mina paused. “I’m worried. She agreed and commented how I should do my best in the World Duel Carnival. But since it ended, I haven’t seen her much.”  
Carmon felt her heart squeeze. “She got in a fight.” Hearing the voice, Carmon and Mina looked at the stairs. Sakurai was climbing off the banister. “There was a one-sided fight between Ichiyami and Umashiro.”

“Umashiro?” Mina blinked. Who was that, she wondered for a second. “I’m sorry, there’s a lot of people in our class and spring semester started before the Duel Carnival. What does she look like?” They couldn’t blame her. Their class had roughly thirty students and in the short few months, it would be tricky to memorize all of the names with the faces.  
“Uhh, green hair? Loose braid?” Carmon began counting traits on her fingers. “She’s got these gray eyes that can stare into your soul and determine if you’re a hard worker or not.”

Mina’s face lit up. “Oh, I think I know who you’re talking about now.” Her smile began to fall. “They were in a fight?”  
“Yeah.” Sakurai  swallowed what was left of his sports drink. “The reason-.”  
“Hiro, that’s enough.” Carmon wasn’t pleased. 

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Mina asked. “If something did happen, I can ask my friends. We can offer 5 additional pairs of eyes.”

Carmon clasped Mina’s hand and shook it. “You know what? That’ll be great.”   
Mina gave a nod. “Ah, we don’t have each other’s number. If we find her, I can contact you.”

“That would be wise.” Sakurai commented. Carmon and Mina then began to exchange Gazer numbers and bade each other a good day, hoping for contact in the case of their search for Momoya.

...

 

  The bell for Heartland Academy chimed as the flood of junior high students poured through the doors and over flights of stairs. Kids were preparing themselves for their departure.

Well, except for one. He rummaged through desk and scoured the slick flooring.

“Gone, gone, GONE!” The high pitch squeal echoed the classroom.  
“Yuma, what’s gone this time?” A slim girl with dark green hair styled in such a way, gave a groan.   
“Maybe he lost the stylus of his D-Pad.” A heavyset boy gave a cynical grin. “Even if he’s the Duel Champion and won against aliens and reset the world, he’s still Yuma.”  
The girl twisted her mouth. “You’re right about that.”  
“It’s not my stylus! ...Well, maybe it is that, but!” Yuma whined. “The Emperor’s Key is missing!”  
“Yuma, you’re quite the scatterbrain.” A girl with a feline do raised her hand to her lips.   
“Cathy, for once, I think I agree with you.”  
“Oh, Kotori. You’ve agreed many times with me in the past.”  
“I’ve not.”  
“You have.”  
“Have not.”  
“Kotori.”  
“Cathy.”  
“Wait a second! Girls, girls!” The newcomer entered their conversation. His soft, pink curls tickled under his ear as he bobbed his head and gently put his hands up in a motion. “There’s no reason to be fighting.” The two first-year students looked at him and then at themselves. “I’m pretty sure that’s not what Yuma wants to hear right now.”

“Oh.” The girl with her dark green hair up in a side bun took notice of his words. “You don’t have to be worried, III.”  
“Yes, III.” The boy’s attention was diverted to the classroom door. A bowler hat with a shooting star sat perfectly perched to a much smaller character. “The girls are always like this, or not.”

“Want me to rearrange your face, Tokunosuke?” Cathy raised her hands in a cat-like gesture and glared at the boy.  
“I like my face the way it is, or not!”

“Looks like your mediation skills are kind of dull.” Tetsuo remarked, squinting at the other kids squabbling.  
The boy with curls gave a nervous laugh. “I’m probably not that good with solving issues with girls. Probably only with my brothers.”  
“Course not. You just transferred into the class a few weeks ago. Gonna take a while. And last I checked,” he put a hand to his chin. “Your name’s III. What’s this Michael business?”  
The boy, Michael, smiled. “Well, since my father is no longer hellbent on revenge against Kaito’s father, Dr. Faker, I think we’re just going back to our old names.” Tetsuo didn’t look convinced. "It feels a bit weird, though."  
“If that’s true, we’ll try our best.” A boy with a bowl cut leveled his palms in the air. "At calling you Michael."  
“Haha. Thank you, Todoroki." Michael smiled and looked over at Yuma. "We should offer our help. I think that would make Yuma feel happy. ”  
There was a unanimous nod amongst the group. With the smile present on his face, Michael placed a hand on the shoulder of a panicking Yuma.   
“Let’s go get a start on finding the Key. We’ll have to find it before dusk.”  
Yuma rubbed his nose. “You’re right! I’ve gotta find it, otherwise I can’t bring it to ‘em!”  
“In that case, we’d better go. You checked the entire classroom, right?"  
Yuma nodded vigorously. "Which way did you take to get here?”  
“It was a shortcut. Tetsuo found it, so we went together. I only noticed it missing during lunch period.” Yuma’s eyes lit up and mashed words together. “Wait, it’s probably there! It’s not in school, so it’s gotta be!”  
“Well then, let’s head on out and search.”  
Kotori and Cathy raised brows in unison. “But, wait! Where is this shortcut?” Cathy let out a trill.  
Tetsuo tightened the grip on his bag. “You’ll recognize the area when we get there. We gotta hurry.”

“I just hope the cleaning bots didn’t discard it.”

....

_You never tell us what you’re thinking._

Momoya’s head began to throb. Her eyes opened slowly with blurred vision.  
Why don’t you tell us things..?  
Green. It felt a little cool.  
“Sayu...?” Her sight slowly came into focus. A rock lay behind the shrubbery she’s dived into.  
 Oh, what happened, she wondered. Feeling her head sting, Momoya raised her hand to her head and sat up slowly. Lowering her hand, she began to stare at spots of dried blood on her fingers.  
“Oh no, I didn’t crack my head open, did I?” 

“Hm?” She turned her body and sat down. Her ears were being prickled by the faint sound of motors. A vision of two dark colored motorbikes were reaching leveled ground, crawling up the hilly roadway. Dark motorbikes..  
“Crap…!” A sense of panic and dread settled in. Pulling her body behind the shrubbery, Momoya then peeked out.

 

“Did you hear anything from Watanabe?”  
Watanabe?  
“Well, she and her friends split up to cover ground. They didn’t find Ichiyami.”  
The bikes slowed to a stop and sputtered with engines purring. Both riders paused and surveyed their rest stop. “Do you see her, Hiro?” Hiro?  
“No, I don’t..ah.” The visors of their helmets rose and they looked around, seated on their bikes.

Momoya then poked her head up and stared at them.

“Ah.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, everyone! Update, get! I'm really excited to get it up and running! This chapter's kind of long, but I hope you guys liked it as much as I did writing it up. 
> 
> If desired, I can make quick notes on the original characters depending on the response.*

“Ah.”  
Momoya stared at the two. The moment her head came into view was when awkward silence drifted through the air. After the long pause, Hiro pointed.  
“Oh, look. The earth has given us the bountiful harvest of a young fruit tree.”  
Heaving a sigh, Carmon slid off her bike and shot him a look. “This isn’t the time to be funny.” She trotted over towards the overgrown shrubbery and knelt down. “You okay, Momo?”

She saw the blood on her friend’s forehead. She looked down and saw the rock hidden in the brush.  
Carmon’s face grew pale.  
“You are most certainly not okay.”  
“Isn’t that obvious?”  
Momoya’s mouth twitched. “Well, someone doesn’t seem to be too concerned.”  
Carmon sighed. “Ignore him. I pissed him off somewhat along the way here.”  
“Did you now.”

Carmon took ahold of her friend’s hands and helped her to her feet. “You’ve got yourself pretty good. That cut looks nasty.”  
“Hopefully it didn’t do anything too terrible.” Momoya exhaled as Carmon released her. She ran her fingers under her bangs and brushed them aside. “It’s not a big one, is it?”

“It looks normal-size to me.” Carmon draped an arm around her shoulders. “We best get that checked out.” She looked up, her eyes following the road. “Your house is up this way, right?”

Momoya nodded to both. “But, I can get it checked out myself.”  
“Knowing you,” Hiro buried his chin in his arms, resting on his motorcycle. “You’ll probably not make it far on your own.” There was a pause from him. “What were you doing here anyway?”  
“Questions can be asked later.” Carmon replies and climbed back on the saddle. Momoya looked at them, a bit reluctant. “But, I...” Knowing she would be shot down for suggesting otherwise, she walked over and sat down on the vehicle. “Here, a helmet.”  
She remained hesitant, but took it. “Thanks.”  
“There’s a 100 yen convenience store not too far from here.” Carmon began revving up. “We’re going to circle.”

Momoya’s scuffed hands hugged Carmon’s waist, trying to hold on and ignoring the throbbing from her head. “You guys didn’t take a highway to get here, right.” She sounded suspicious.  
“Don’t worry! We took backroads to get here.” Carmon played off the response with a laugh. “Alright, hold on tight.”

“You’re not going far.” Hiro looked bored out of his gourd and slid his visor down. Following close behind, the trio rode into the suburbs. Holding on, Momoya lazily looked around her. A flash of pink...

“Momo?”  
“Mm?”  
Carmon glanced behind her. “What’s wrong?”  
“It’s nothing.”  
Nothing at all.

,,  
“Did you find it?” Michael shouted, crawling through shrubs.  
Yuma let out a cry. “No! Where is it?”  
Tetsuo and Kotori sat back. Todoroki shone a flashlight over the bushes. _I got roped into this,_ he thought with a grimace. _Why didn't Tokunosuke or Cathy join us?_  
Kotori started pondering aloud. “Could a crow have taken it?”  
“Eh, it’s possible. Though, the Key’s kind of edged and has sharp points.” Todoroki looked up from his search.  
“It could be the same crow.”  
“Oh, same crow?”  
Kotori gave a nod. “Yuma lost part of his Duel Lunch from a crow during the World Duel Carnival.”  
Tetsuo squinted. “You’re kidding, right?”  
“Tetsuo, it grabbed the Duel Lunch by the talons.”  
He felt his mind hit a mental brick wall. “No. No crow’s nest. We’re not doing that.”  
Todoroki turned off his flashlight. “Can’t we just call Shark? I mean, he’s probably not doing anything.”  
“But,” Michael poked his head up and looked at the class president. “Isn’t Ryoga helping the others settle in?”  
“Right...”  
Yuma pokes his head up as well. “That could work, right? All the more help!”

,,,  
“So a pack of ace bandages, antiseptic, and an ice pack?” The cashier began ringing up the items as Carmon watched the digital display. Momoya sat on the bench that ran between the magazine and novel stands and entrance. Her hands were clasped together and her eyes began to wander. Home decor, seasonal cooking, and tabloid magazines littered the shelves. She raised a brow and leaned forward in her seat.

Bold font ran across a flimsy cover; Duel Flair, it read. The structure of Heartland Tower was placed behind the title.  
Angling her body, Momoya went to reach for it, but stopped. Something was jabbing into her stomach. Sitting back, she unzipped her hoodie and a most displeased look crossed her. Her D-Pad...she’d forgotten about it.  
“Shit...”, she uttered, quietly. “Is it broken?” Looking it over, Momoya wasn’t too sure. “...Dammit. I have a bad feeling.”

“Momo?” She gave a slight jump. Carmon was hovering above her with a shopping bag. “You alright?”  
“It’s..” Momoya began and fell into a pause. “Definitely not nothing.”  
After a couple agonizing minutes of cleaning and dressing her forehead wound, Carmon settled down next to her friend and held the D-Pad in her hands and studied it. There was a faint rattle and her face became contorted into that of dread.  
“Oh.”  
“Oh’s right.” Momoya leaned. “I only just found out.”  
“How?”  
“...I think it was when I was dodging a skateboard this morning.”  
Carmon looked at her. “...You never mentioned a skateboard.” She sighed. “Okay, you better start from the beginning.”  
Momoya regained composure and began to tell how she had gone out that morning to see if she could find someone to duel before classes, found a strange and shiny object, and dodged a skateboard flying at her head before hitting it on a rock and waking up in the afternoon.  
It didn’t sound too far fetched to Carmon. Kids these days, she thought.  
“Well, where is this strange thing you mentioned?”

Rummaging through the pockets of her hoodie, Momoya wondered in mumbles and gave a shrug. “I remember holding it, but either I lost it or..”

“Or perhaps,” Carmon began and pointed to Momoya’s person. “It’s stuck to you.” Momoya looked down. Sure enough, it was protruding from her pants cuff. She leaned down and removed the strange item from her jeans with little tearing. “It probably ended up that way when I jumped behind the bushes when you and Hiro were coming.”  
Carmon’s eyes locked with the appearance. “Gosh, that’s weird-looking. It’s also pretty.”  
“I was wondering if Hiro knew what it might be.” Momoya gripped the magazine and settled it on her lap and holding the strange shape. “It almost looks like a house key.”

Carmon raised a brow, her eyes now torn from the key-like item. “Duel Flair?” She gave a gentle tug and slid the magazine off her friend’s lap. “Why would you be interested in this?”  
Momoya paused. “...There’s an article about the World Duel Carnival. I wanted to at least read about it.”  
World Duel Carnival… Carmon looked back at her and then the magazine. A bitter thought emerged from her conscious. “Here. You go ahead. I’m still curious about what you found.” Examining it in her palm, she marveled at the edges and sleekness. Hm, there’s a weird loop right here, Carmon wondered.

“Ah.”  
“Something wrong?” She looked over. “Hey...isn’t that the kid who-“  
“Won the WDC? I think so.” Momoya said. Sure enough, there was a picture of a kid holding up a peace sign in victory. “Yuma Tsukumo.”  
She stared at the key and then back. “This is probably his.”  
Carmon leaned over. “How can you be sure?”  
Momoya’s finger moved down to the neck of the photo. The same key..

Momoya held the magazine with a tighter grip. She rose up and walked towards the counter. Carmon watched her and turned her head to view out the window. Hiro was looking pretty disgruntled as he was chatting on his Gazer to Mina.  
“I’ve got it.”  
“Uh,” Carmon looked up. Momoya loomed, the magazine in her hand and a bag wrapped around her arm. “Got what?”

,,

“Sorry, Yuma.”  
They had called Ryoga Kamishiro in a desperate last ditch effort. He wasn’t too keen. However, the mention of Yuma losing the Key sent him on his way. He knew how precious it was to him.  
“Thanks, Shark.” Yuma wasn’t all that relieved, but he was moved.  
Ryoga shoved his hands in his pockets. “Do you remember what happened?”  
“Huh? Well..”  
“Start from the beginning.”  
Tetsuo, Kotori, and Todoroki sat back as Michael and Ryoga circled Yuma.  
“I heard there was a better shortcut around here that could get us to school faster. So I went with Tetsuo.”  
“Did you go by foot?”  
“Um,” Yuma then looked down at his feet. “...No, we took his skateboard.”  
Ryoga looked at Yuma and then at Tetsuo, questioningly. “III was going down the same way. We flew and crashed. It took a bit to get his skateboard back.”

Michael looked a tad sympathetic. “Yuma, that route’s been my way to school since I moved here with my family.”  
“I-Is that right?” Yuma looked a tad mystified.  
Ryoga then waved and returned to jumping on his motorcycle. “Wait, Shark?” He was about to slip his helmet on. “Where’re you going now?”  
“There’s a curfew set.”  
Tetsuo shrugged and looked rather smug. “Probably since the whole Barian thing.”  
“It was Rio’s idea and I was on the fence about it.” The face Tetsuo made after following with the comment gave Ryoga a weird shiver, which he ignored rather well. “We set it for the others. Gilag and Durbe comply to it good. Alit’s tricky and Mizael tends to spend time at Heartland Tower.”  
“And Vector?” Michael uttered. “What about him?”  
Ryoga sighed. “Who knows. But I'll try to get any of them to help.” Revving up, Ryoga flashed a smile and drove off into the setting sun. "Later."

“Let’s just hope someone isn’t holding it hostage.” Todoroki commented.  
“Or that nasty crow.”  
Yuma turned on his heel and gave a deep bow. “I’m sorry. You guys tried your best.”  
Michael held Yuma’s hand and gave him a smile. “The search won’t be over until the Emperor Key’s found. You know that, Yuma.”  
Yuma, touched by his friend’s words, squeezed his hands. “Thanks, III.”  
“I’ll take you home. I think everybody has homework to rush home and finish.”  
“Hey, thanks.”  
“Yeah.” Tetsuo flashed a thumbs up. “We’ll try tomorrow, right?”  
_You didn’t help in the slightest,_ Todoroki glowered.

After they went separate ways, Michael walked with Yuma back to the Tsukumo household and bade him a goodnight. Opening the door, Yuma entered and kicked his school shoes off and released a groaned “I’m home.”  
“Welcome back, Yuma.” Haru greeted, sitting on the couch with tea in her hands. Yuma rested his arms on the head of the couch and leaned. “Grandma, you didn’t see the Emperor’s Key around here, did you?”  
“Unfortunately not, sweetie.” His grandmother ho and hummed. “Did you lose it?”  
“Unfortunately..” He let out a depressed sigh. “Dad’s probably gonna be mad.”  
Haru set her tea down on the coffee table and clapped her hands on Yuma’s. “Yuma, your father probably won’t be as harsh as you believe he’d be.” 

“Grandma’s right.” Turning his head, Yuma saw his big sister Akari with her arm against the wall with the bunny mug in her hand. “Dad’s not the petty type of person.” She took a swig. “Have you checked Obomi? She probably picked it up while getting groceries. She should be back shortly.”  
Yuma’s eyes grew. There was a solid chance. “I’m going upstairs!” He began to skid and trample up the stairs and halted as Akari waved something in his face. “What is it? Can’t it wait?”  
Akari flicked it with her wrist and Yuma clumsily caught it. “A letter?”  
“It came for you not too long ago.” Akari leaned against the railing. “It doesn’t have a return address, but it could be from Mom and Dad.”  
“Thanks!” With the letter in hand, Yuma zoomed up the stairs.  
“Hey, don’t forget to wash up! Tonight’s fried chicken!”

Yuma slinked up the rope ladder that led to the attic and sat down. He held the letter in his hands and stared really hard. “It probably is from Dad. Ugh, I’m not even sure how to face him…!” With nerves eating him from the inside, Yuma opened the letter and the holograph card popped out. As it turned on, he fully expected to see his father.

“To Yuma Tsukumo.”

A gruff voice came from the holograph card. It sure wasn’t his dad. This person’s face was obscured, but his hand gave off a glint.  
The Emperor’s Key.


End file.
